Research of preparation of novel nano/submicro-fiber catalyst

A novel Nano/submicro-fiber catalyst was prepared via electrospinning technology from poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and nano-TiO₂. First, nano-TiO₂ particles were added into the mixture of ethanol and deionized water, the mass ratio of ethanol and deionized water was 1:1, the TiO₂ suspension was obtained after 1 h with ultrasonic treatment and centrifugal effect, Then PVP was added into the above-mentioned suspension and the content of PVP in the sol was 28%. The TiO₂/PVP solution was electrospun with different voltage. The effects of the content of TiO₂ and electrospinning voltage on diameter of nano/submicro-fiber were studied. The nano/submicro-fiber catalyst was characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD and FT-IR. The results show that the diameter of nano/submicro-fiber increases with a increase of the content of nano-TiO₂ and decreases with the increase of electrospinning voltage. The analytical result showed that the nano-TiO₂ particles were well dispersed in the matrix of PVP, moreover, the crystal type of nano-TiO₂ was a mixture of anatase and rutile and the diameter of nano-TiO₂ particles in the nano/submicro-fiber is in the range of 20nm-60nm and the nano-TiO₂ particle was monodisperse, and the nano-TiO₂ particle and PVP molecule was connected by a hydrogen bonding. This nano/submicro-fiber catalyst has a high efficiency on degradation on CH₂O. 56.8 percent of CH₂O was degradated under ultraviolet radiation in 80 minutes when the content of nano-TiO₂ is 20% in nano/submicro-fibers.